The Long-Awaited Talk
by DChan87
Summary: Post s6: Before they leave for earth, the Paladins have some work to do. But when Keith notices that Allura is off on her own, he's prompted to talk to her about what happened between her and Lotor, and her powers, while old feelings begin to change.


It was going to take a while for the Paladins to adjust to their situation. The Castle of Lions was gone. Lotor was stuck in the space between realities. Keith had finally come back. There were possibly even more Alteans out there than originally thought. The Galra were in danger of descending further into civil war. But all of that would have to take a backseat for now. They defeated Lotor, brought peace to their universe and saved many other realities from destruction. They deserved a little rest.

Everyone was still coming down from the emotional roller coast of the last quintant. They didn't know if Lotor was dead or not, what could happen to Shiro, or how they were going to get back to Earth without the Castle of Lions. On top of that, a lot more work needed to be done before they could really set out on their return journey to earth. Since Shiro was in no condition to fly just yet, that delayed them even further. They were all tired. But they were also relieved.

As much as Keith wanted to leave, he fully understood that his friends needed to wait. He already spent two years on a space whale with his mom—well, time was kind of strange on that space whale. Only a couple of weeks had passed in real time. So on top of catching up with everyone, he had to figure out if he really was 2 years older or not. It hurt his head thinking about it. So he returned his focus to re-bonding with his friends. He had a lot to catch up on. He was mostly just relieved to have the real Shiro back, even if he was inhabiting a clone body now. He honestly didn't know what he would do if he failed to save Shiro. That it was a clone didn't matter.

He was thinking about it, sitting next to his canine companion a ways away from the others, who were off in their own activities. Pidge and Hunk constructing a device to amplify their communicators so they could send a distress signal. Lance was doing his best to help, but was mostly relegated to helping build the device instead of programming it. Everyone else was off on their own, for lack of a better term. Krolia, Romelle and Allura tended to Shiro, trying to keep him stable as he recovered from everything. Even Lotor's generals, because the Paladins felt sympathy for them and rescued them, spent time with them. However, after a while, all six women went off on their own, but Krolia and Allura lingered by Shiro longer.

Eventually he noticed that Allura wasn't with Krolia. He promptly sat up, coming alert. His canine companion whined and nuzzled his arm. He didn't panic, but he was concerned. He'd been away from everyone for 2 years—to them it was only two weeks—and he hadn't had enough time to catch up to them, despite his love for them being the fuel to warp to their location, and it felt awkward to suddenly jump back into the team. But he was vaguely aware that Allura and Lotor were involved, at least for a short time… and then Lotor turned out to be an evil motherquiznaker who used her to get what he wanted.

Feeling his chest tighten a little, he hurriedly looked around the campsite until he spotted a lone figure sitting over past the Blue Lion. At least he found Allura. But she was off by herself. He felt an immediate, deep desire to talk to her, but… he was afraid that the amount of time he was gone really had widened the gap between him and everyone else. He was technically older than them now, even though he was always the Garrison trio's senior. Would that affect how they saw him? How would it affect how Allura saw him? But he knew that Allura was deeply hurting after learning that Lotor had been using her. And again, his desire to speak to her again welled up inside him, making him visibly sad for her.

As if sensing Keith's concern for Allura, the space dog stood up and bounded over to Allura, almost knocking Ezor over as she was walking over to Krolia. "Wait!" Keith called after his dog, then he stood up and chased the dog.

Just as Keith feared, Allura was nearly inconsolable. The shock, sudden truth about Lotor's plans had caused her to feel several emotions at once, the most prominent of which were obviously hurt, betrayal and anger, and not all of them at him. While Lance did try to console her earlier on the Castle, it hadn't been enough, as much as she appreciated it. While she still had some residual feelings for Lotor and didn't see Lance as anything other than a brother, her heartbreak was too deep.

Lotor hadn't just used her. He'd manipulated her, using her desire to follow Alfor's footsteps as a great Altean alchemist. He used her desire to learn more about her own abilities to awaken his own. He exploited her naïveté, her desire to find more Alteans, all while hiding an entire colony of them, so he could create his own Altean Empire, just like what her other-reality counterpart did. General Hira had nearly tricked her, but that was the alternate reality. Lotor had either pretended to, or genuinely fallen in love with her, to get her to do his dirty work. And he'd kissed her. She wanted to wash her mouth off with the strongest cleaning supply she could find.

Even though she'd gotten over her misery for a few dobashes, it had returned with a vengeance in the last few. There was no way for her to completely and accurately describe the horrible things she felt, but what she could probably say, if asked, was that she felt like she could never be happy again. That she was a changed woman, and not for the better. She didn't know if she could trust another person after this, despite putting up a happy front in front of everyone else. She couldn't let go of the past, and now she couldn't see a decent future. She was even unsure if she could use her alchemical knowledge ever again.

"How could I have been so naïve?" she quietly asked herself. "Father… I'm sorry." A quiet tear trickled down her cheek, causing her to blink and then clenched her eyes shut to stop more from flowing freely. "Talk less, smile more… conceal, don't feel," she whispered.

She heard something coming up from behind her. She turned around in time to see a black shape bounding towards her. She shrieked and stood up, but the shape barreled into her, knocking her on her backside. She remained terrified until she was finally able to get a good look at the object that had crashed into her.

She'd barely noticed it before, but then remembered that Keith had brought a time wolf that he'd adopted during his time away from the team. The dog had already backed off a little, giving her room to sit up and make eye contact with his quizzical eyes. The wolf's large size intimidated her at first, but she remained calm. It was only when the dog nuzzled her face that the nervousness of the situation finally went away. But with a hesitant smile, she just as hesitantly reached out and petted the top of the wolf's head. His wagging tail told her that she was doing something right.

"Hello," she said softly. "You were with Keith, weren't you?" The dog whined happily. Then it pawed at the ground and her leg while leaning into her petting. She smiled at the dog, but her eyes remained sad.

Keith was not far behind, and was surprised to see the dog sitting in front of Allura. "Allura?" he asked in a soft voice he seemed to use for her all the time.

It caught her and the dog's attention. Both looked up at him, but only the dog's attention remained on Keith. Allura turned away to look at the purple and gold horizon.

Guilt and sadness welled up inside Keith. "Allura," he said softly again, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she insisted.

"I heard about what happened with Lotor. I'm sorry."

"No, really, I'm fine," she insisted again.

Keith sighed, but saw she was still petting his space dog, who'd laid its head in her lap. He smiled again. "He likes you."

"I like him," she said. "Are you using him as an excuse to talk to me?"

"No, he came on his own," Keith answered. He narrowed his eyes in concern. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I said I'm fine," she insisted a third time.

"You're not," he said. "Lance told me about what happened. I wish there was something else I could say, but… I'm sorry. And you deserved better."

"I'd rather not talk about it," she said.

He studied her for a few ticks. He could see the dullness in her otherwise lively eyes. Whatever Lotor had done had affected her so deeply that the beautiful light in those eyes had dimmed. As much as he wanted to say something about those eyes, he knew it was too sensitive a topic to discuss with her at this time.

"That's fine," he said quietly. "But if you need me, I'm here to listen." He looked up at her and touched her shoulder.

Slowly turning her head towards him she found herself captivated by his sad expression. Keith couldn't see it, but if he could, he'd recognize it as a similar expression to the one he wore after cutting "Shiro's" arm off at the cloning facility. Only this time it wasn't sadness. His eyes bore through her, causing her to look away again.

"Listen, Allura," he said, "I know what it feels like to—"

"To feel used?" she interrupted. "To discover that some monster only cared about your abilities, and not who you were as a person, just so they can get what they want!? He kept talking about my father over and over again! I should have known he was up to no good! And he had the nerve to say he was doing the right thing! QUIZNAK HIM!"

She slammer both fists on the ground, disturbing the poor dog, but he managed to stay in her lap. However, Keith hadn't moved. In fact, he wasn't fazed. He just kept staring at her.

"That's not what I meant, but… you're right. I don't know what it's like to be used. I was about to say that I know what it feels like to be frustrated. You put walls up around you to keep people from hurting you, but you just keep retreating into them.

"I'm not going to let you make the same mistake I did."

"I don't need a lecture," she huffed.

But she didn't expect his next reaction. True, it was an off-the-cuff comment, but she still didn't expect him to snicker like that.

"What's so funny!?" she asked.

"You said that to me once," he answered, still smiling at her. However, despite smiling about it at first, she was also still visibly unhappy. He dropped the subject immediately… sort of.

"You have an amazing ability," he continued, "When I saw you revive Shiro, I thought you looked amazing."

For the first time in their conversation, Allura looked up at him visibly surprised. And to her surprise, she saw that he was being honest. She didn't know if she should be happy or insulted, but subconsciously, she could feel a warm sensation welling up inside, making her smile back at him. "Thank you,"she said. "But what should I do?"

"Use your abilities to help people," he said softly, gently touching her arm in a way that made her both excited and calmer. "Like those Alteans."

"What about the rest of the Coalition?" she asked.

"Them too."

"Are you sure?" she asked again.

"You still regret it."

"How would you feel?" she asked again.

"There's a lot of things I already regret," he answered. "Like leaving you guys. Even if it was the right thing to do… I can't lie to myself and say that I didn't miss you. Because I did."

She smiled at him. "I wanted to hear that."

"And if only I'd been there to stop Lotor," he continued. "I knew he was up to no good. But I pushed all of you away because I was afraid you'd reject me."

She was stunned. She hadn't expected him to be so upfront. Those long months, and two years (to him at least) had obviously done something to him. She finally noticed that he was definitely different. Not only was his hair longer and he was… bigger… he carried himself completely differently than the boy she'd met months earlier, even if he was still technically the same age he had been because of some timey-wimey… stuff. She blushed. And then she mentally cursed herself for acting like she had when she was with Lotor. _Conceal, don't feel…_

"Allura?"

She snapped her head back up.

"He did more, didn't he?"

Allura sharply breathed in. He felt his chest tighten. Whatever she was about to say wasn't going to be good. She said something under her breath. "What?"

"He… we kissed," she answered. "I thought I loved him."

Keith's chest tightened, which he initially thought was anger for her. It still didn't explain why he took her hand. Seeing the life leave her eyes made his heart sank. When they first met her, he never got a very good look at her, but once he did, he was struck by her beauty—they all were, Lance especially—but he shortly saw her determination, and those bright eyes passionately burning. They drew him to her in a way he'd yet to figure out. But it felt natural sitting next to her like this, like he could spend a lot more time with her.

She could have pulled away, and would have, had she not made the subconscious and conscious decision to squeeze back. "Allura—"

"I let myself be played. I wanted to believe that he was reformed."

"It's not your fault," Keith repeated. "If anything, it's _my_ fault, because I should have _been_ there. I knew he was no good, but I was too scared to get close to you guys… guess I ran away from my problems."

Allura wanted to snap back at him. But she couldn't. He had definitely changed.

"You can't let Lotor win by refusing to use your abilities," he said. "If you do, you're running away from your problems, just like I did."

"Keith, don't—"

"Allura, listen," he interrupted, "You have an incredible power. And you have a strength that I wish I could have."

"Keith? Is that true?"

"Why would I lie to you?"

"I just don't know what I'm fighting for anymore."

"Fight for those surviving Alteans," he answered. "We'll save them, I promise."

"And what about you? What do you fight for?"

"I'll fight for all of you," he answered. "And I have the mark to remind me why." He pointed at his cheek, giving her her first real glimpse of the scar. Unconsciously, she placed her hand on it and stroked it. To him it felt like his skin was tingling but to her it felt raw.

"I can heal that for you," she said. "But I think I already know the answer."

"Yeah, no thanks," he said. "But we have a lot of work to do. And we need you."

"Thank you," she said. She stared at him until she felt something squirming in her lap, when she remembered that the space dog was still sitting there and she was leaning against him. Apologetically, she leaned backwards so the dog could get up out of her lap, which it did, but it sat down next to her, with his head in her lap again. "He really likes me. You found him with that Galra woman?"

"She's my mom."

Allura blushed. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't—we haven't been able to catch up, have we?"

"No," Keith replied. "Where do you want me to start?"

"From the beginning," she answered.

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Hi, everyone! How was that? This is my contribution to the post-s6 bonding trend. Hope you like it!


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